Self-Improvement Archives - The Art of Improvement

Stop Letting People Walk All Over You

“No.”

It’s a simple word. Powerful too. Yet it is often met with a less-than warm reception. There are many people who say “yes” to most things thrown their way, often in fear of saying “no.”

In reality, saying “no” isn’t anything other than being assertive. Not abrasive, confrontational, or anything in between. It’s an important but small part of assertive communication. Mastering it means to know your boundaries and communicate them in an effective, non-confrontational manner. If you don’t honour your boundaries, then you are giving someone else the opportunity to take advantage of you. By setting and enforcing what you’re comfortable with, whether that’s in your work, social, or personal life, you form your character and establish a social image (even if the social circle itself is small).

Minimalism for Overthinkers

Imagine yourself sitting in a room filled with all kinds of things that cover all of the bookshelves, furniture, and floors. A small table in front of you is scattered with stacks of magazines and digital devices, like a laptop, phone, and ipad.

Now try another scenario, but this time imagine sitting in a room that is clear of clutter. The shelves contain personal items that are meaningful to you. The floor is clear and clean, and the small table in front of you has only a vase of flowers and a book that you’re currently reading.

Rewrite Your Identity, Rewrite Fate

“You idiot”

“Why did I do that?!”

“How did I get here?”

The things we say to ourselves matter. Even if you have people around you describe who you are and compliment your traits, if you don’t believe them, none of it matters. After all, no one is going to steer your ship for you – the person you want to be is a product of the actions you take and the choices you make.

Think of it this way. A car needs your hands at the wheel. Without your input, it will veer out of control. Your identity, and subsequently your future, require your hands at the wheel. Otherwise, you may end up feeling like you’re stuck living a life that isn’t yours, straying down a path you never intended to take.

“Anti-Procrastination” – 8 Moves to Get Unstuck

“You’ve got to wake up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” — George Horace Lorimer

Procrastination isn’t a character flaw. It’s a system problem. Build a better system, and delay stops winning.

Most people don’t lose to laziness. They lose to drift. They open a tab. They take a “quick” scroll. They tend to a dozen low-stakes fires and call it a day. The cost of this is compounding regret, stalled income and fragile confidence.

A Simple System to Escape Mediocrity

“First say to yourself what you would be and then do what you have to do.” – Epictetus

You don’t escape mediocrity by accident.
You do it on purpose.

Most people drift. They consume. They wait for motivation.
But you will not.
You’ll choose a different path, one boring, deliberate day at a time.

How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals

What if I told you that achieving your most ambitious goals can be simpler than you think? If you believe that big goals are harder to achieve than smaller ones, you may be underestimating yourself.

The truth is that making big things happen doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task. For example, if you were wanting to get a new job to make more money and improve your lifestyle, it wouldn’t help to settle for the first job you came across. What steps would you take to create the outcome you’re hoping for? It all comes down to having a clear vision of what you want, having a plan of how to get there, and not giving up.

6 Uncomfortable Truths About Success You Need to Hear

Comfort. Let’s think about that for a second. Don’t get it twisted, comfort feels wonderful. It’s reassuring, safe, and protective. A comfortable evening is predictable, but in a good way. You know what you’re getting. Now, that’s great, but say you repeat that pattern, repeatedly. You choose comfort every day and night. That safety net isn’t just present, it completely wraps around your life.

Soon, the comfort can begin to feel too soft. Suddenly, it’s too hard to get up. Comfort is wonderful and necessary in all of our lives, but not wholly. Like everything, balance is needed. Discomfort – often in the form of truths you don’t want to hear – is essential in your journey to success, whatever that may look like.

5 Lessons from Stoic Philosophy That Will Change the Way You Live

Stoic Philosophy was practiced in Ancient Rome and Greece. It promotes living a virtuous life, by means of ethical and personal character development.

But what does that mean for people living in a modern world, far removed from the early civilizations of the Ancient Stoics? You might be wondering if there’s anything you could learn from such old philosophical thoughts.

As it turns out, there’s quite a lot that applies to the challenges of today. Many great athletes, political and military leaders, as well as poets, have embraced the tenets of Stoicism to help them achieve their highest goals and potential.

Multitasking is Killing Your Brain

Most people would agree that we live in a busy world. Work, home, hobbies, friends, and family are just a few of the things that occupy our daily schedules. Adding in other activities like extra projects, going to school, or traveling complicate things even more. It can be a real challenge to fit it all in.

So what do we do to make sure we have time for everything? Well, sometimes multitasking seems like the best way to accomplish the most we can in the time we are given. Piling one task on top of another can seem like an efficient way to do more than one thing at a time, and get more done. But can we really do that?

I tried to be a morning person for 30 days – it worked!

What sort of noise do you make when you wake up? A tweet tweet or a hoo hoo? While some people wake up with the relentless tweeting energy of an early bird, you may feel a gradual arrival into the new day, slowly building up energy throughout the morning.

A morning person usually gets tired in the evenings, while a night owl feels more energised towards the end of the day. They also likely have trouble sleeping in past a certain time, as their body isn’t accustomed to a late start. Dr. Doga Ayish, a neurologist at Houston Methodist, has this to say on the matter:

“If you’re a morning person, your brain is most alert in the morning, and you’re generally very good at harnessing this energy and focus to get tasks, work, and chores done.”